The Riata Buckle has revolutionized team roping’s stallion incentive game, offering a $2.5-million roping this November 2-4 at the Lazy E in Guthrie, Oklahoma, to ropers riding horses enrolled in the Riata program and leveling up with their new—but little known—Riata Buckle Earnings Bonus Program.
What Is the Riata Buckle’s Earnings Bonus Program in 2023?
In 2022, the Riata Buckle pumped $2 million in new earnings into the industry’s earnings databases QData and EquiStat, and in 2023, the stallion incentive is upping the ante. The Riata Buckle has begun reaching out via text message to ropers who win money at any USTRC or Ariat World Series of Team Roping event the week following the roping, inviting them to submit their horse’s name and Riata enrollment information for the win. That money is then submitted to QData and EquiStat, expanding each horse’s lifetime earnings and the produce record of the sire and dam as well as the breeding program as a whole.
What Benefits Will Ropers Receive from the Riata Buckle’s Bonus Program?
Participating in this program qualifies ropers for the new Riata Buckle #10.5 and #12.5 Bonus Earnings Ropings in November, each with $100,000 guaranteed payout. These $300-per-roper entry ropings—open to a team of two Riata horses or a Riata horse and a proxy partner—are for horses whose earnings are documented through the Riata’s partnership with the NTRL, NTR, USTRC or WSTR throughout the year.
“We’ll be confirming horses through video and photography,” Riata co-founder Denny Gentry said. “Ropers will be rewarded for reporting their horses’ earnings. And all they have to do is look for a text message after they win money at a NTRL, NTR, USTRC or WSTR qualifier.”
What’s Next?
Riata Buckle is pioneering the software to document and track Riata horses, but once the system is in place, Equine Network (the parent company of the USTRC, NTR, WSTR and The Team Roping Journal) plans to implement a similar tracking program for all rope horses.
Why Does It Matter?
Black-type pedigrees—created by pulling reports from QData and EquiStat—are what drive valuation in cutting, reining, barrel racing and race horses, all with markets out-performing the rope horse game in pricing. The tracking system the Riata Buckle is putting in place will allow ropers to track the money won on horses, finally showing the value of a great rope horse and great rope horse program—particularly to new buyers flocking to the rope horse industry in hopes of joining into the futurity business. This will add value to stallion owners, mare owners, trainers, breeders and horse owners in general.
